"Some time ago crime was modest - take Al Capone and his mere two dozens of victims. Now we have the Independence Day movie, where alien spaceships murder almost the entire mankind. Some American producer claims now that his next picture will be even stronger. But what can be stronger? To murder an entire biosphere? This is so disgusting for me, that I decided to leave the street-car of science fiction on a stop of essay writing."

a truly original voice in science fiction.
i wish i believed in heaven so i could imagine he's now chatting with asimov and bester and clarke, hunter s. thompson and, hell, benjamin franklin and socrates too.
we have his books. he'll live forever.posted by Miles Long at 9:18 AM on March 27, 2006

Man. What an great writer. I've never read a book by him that wasn't amazing. Solaris. Chain of Chance. Memoirs found in a Bathtub freaked me out for weeks after I read it.posted by octothorpe at 9:30 AM on March 27, 2006

Cyberiad, Solaris, and Manuscript Found in a Bathtub are three of my favourite sci-fi books. And Dick denounced Lem as not only being a commie, but a collective of communist spies all engaged in an intricate conspiracy to defraud him personally for unknown reasons.

I always thought I might be Pirx the Pilot. Lem was truly a genius.posted by Divine_Wino at 10:59 AM on March 27, 2006

.

Just read his Cyberiad for the first time last year.

Reminds me of Sheckley's passing a few months ago, too.

This is what it's like to grow older...all the people you admire die. *sigh*posted by darkstar at 11:00 AM on March 27, 2006

Stop whining, he just got really tired of us and went back to future where he belonged.posted by Laotic at 11:04 AM on March 27, 2006

That is really sad. The Cyberiad was wonderful:

"Have it compose a poem--a poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic, timeless, full of love, treachery, retribution, quiet heroism and in the face of certain doom! Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and every word beginning with the letter s!!"

"And why not throw in a full exposition of the general theory of nonlinear automata while you're at it?" growled Trurl. "You can't give it such idiotic--"

But he didn't finish. A melodious voice filled the hall with the following:

I can believe in all sorts of things due to the work of Lem and his counterparts, so I can believe he's chatting with his peers in heaven ... or bouncing with them through the galaxy in wave form ... or whatever makes a good tale.posted by farlane at 11:12 AM on March 27, 2006

I always really liked Lem - I think I've read all of his widely available work... though up to this point, I've never met anyone else who'd ever heard of him, except for the one bookstore employee who gave me a knowing nod and a "Yeah. Lem." He was totally unique.posted by GuyZero at 11:22 AM on March 27, 2006

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub was one of those books that became dated after the Soviet Union collapsed, and then became relevant again in the 21st century. Just as a quick synopsis, Memoirs is superficially an account by an inhabitant of a self-sufficient underground military installation that has developed a culture of extreme paranoia.posted by KirkJobSluder at 11:32 AM on March 27, 2006

This is a tragedy. From where I sit, writing this, I can see The Investigation, Return from the Stars, and The Star Diaries. Another dozen of his books sit in another room. Like several previous posters mentioned, his work Memoirs Found in a Bathtub is truly a masterpiece (Sorry, self link, I wrote the wikipedia entry.) Pirx the Pilot was my hero growing up, along with John Carter of Mars. Lem will be missed. :(posted by nlindstrom at 12:31 PM on March 27, 2006

Another great passes away... though I'll admit I never read more than Solaris, but still, it did make a mark or me back in college when I took the interdisciplary Russian Fantasy and Science Fiction class (which, incidentally, had a remarkably high number of CS majors in it trying to fill their humanities requirement ;)posted by Chirael at 8:29 PM on March 27, 2006

I'm very surprised to hear that Dick had problems with Lem, after Lem said such nice things about Clans of the Alphane Moon (while tearing apart a bunch of other hack writers).
Lem had the courage and drive to make aliens alien. I'm not sure it always worked, but I'm glad somebody tried!posted by Aknaton at 10:15 PM on March 27, 2006

Go in peace, fair constructor. Your name will be known farther than those of the great Klapacious and Trurl.

The Cyberiad was wonderful rollicking fun to read aloud -- especially the Steelypips -- and has become the source of many family in-jokes. We never did read another Lem aloud, but I've enjoyed every book of his I read for myself.

I'll keep my rather heretical views on the two Solaris movies to myself.

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